Transgender athletes have a friend in Minnesota.
On Tuesday, the state’s Attorney General Keith Ellison revealed the state filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration and Department of Justice that would allow male trans athletes play in women’s sports, per Fox News.
“I’m not going to sit around waiting for the Trump administration to sue Minnesota. Today, Minnesota is suing him and his administration because we will not participate in this shameful bullying,” Ellison said. “We will not let a small group of vulnerable children who are only trying be healthy and live their lives be demonized.”
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The White House responded that such a lawsuit was “creepy and anti-woman.”
“Why would a grown man sue the Trump administration to allow other biological males to participate in women’s sports? This is creepy and anti-woman,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said.
The state has been operating against Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” policy and decided to file the lawsuit after, as Ellison claimed, he was told the Department of Justice would start legal action if the state did not start complying with Trump’s executive order.
Ellison claimed in the lawsuit that the Trump administration does not have the power to enforce gender eligibility in sports.
Minnesota is the first state to sue over the threat of cutting funds for allowing letting trans athletes play in women’s sports. Maine filed a lawsuit after the Department of Agriculture reduced funding over the issue. A federal judge had since ordered the USDA to restart the funding flow.
In turn, the Justice Department is suing Maine for not complying. Now, Attorney General Pam Bondi is threatening suits against Minnesota and California
“We’re looking at Minnesota. We’re looking at California. We’re looking at many, many states but they are the top two that should be on notice because we’ve been communicating with them,” Bondi said.
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the state for its ongoing defiance of Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order. Maine has faced federal pressure in the last two months over its refusal to comply, including two federal investigations, a funding freeze and now a lawsuit.
“Trump’s burning desire to destroy trans kids and punish us for helping them live and thrive isn’t just a violation of law, it’s a violation of Minnesota values,” Ellison said, per Politico. “And we’re not going to sell out trans kids or any vulnerable community just to stay in the good graces of a lawless administration.”
